[SMW-devel] RfC Printer request parameters

[Denny V. <dv...@ai...>]

Hi all,

here's a request for comments on a planned feature.

A problem in SMW is that there is no proper syntax to give parameters  
to print requests, with two exceptions that have been there since the  
very first implementation of print requests, = and # (like in ? 
length#miles or ?population=pop.). It often would have been very  
useful to add further parameters, like limit the results to 1, sort  
them alphabetically, align them right, show only three significant  
digits etc.

In order to address this we would like to see implemented for SMW 1.5  
a feature to add parameters to print requests. After some  
brainstorming and discussion (that has been ongoing for months, to be  
honest) we had a number of possibilities (like "?population=pop  
(align=right)") and we did not like most due to various reasons, but  
now we think we have something workable:

{{#ask: [[Category:City]]
| ?Population | +align=right
| ?Inhabitant | +limit=3 | +sort=asc
| limit=10
}}

i.e. every parameter that starts with a "+" and following a print  
request and before the next print request is considered to be a  
parameter for that print request and not for the query as a whole.

Opinions are welcomed.

Best,
denny